Moncks Canada West Libero of the Year, Perrin, French First Team All-Stars

February 22, 2013, Langley, BC (ISN) – In her first year with the Trinity Western women’s volleyball team after transferring from Medicine Hat College, Kristen Moncks (Standard, Alta.) was voted Canada West Libero of the Year.

Third-year Spartans Alicia Perrin (Creston, B.C.) and Kelci French (Okotoks, Alta.) were named Canada West First Team All-Stars.

This past fall, Moncks, who is in her third year of eligibility, led the Spartans in digs and was second in the conference with an average of 3.26 digs per set. The 5-foot-9 human kinetics major had a CIS career-high 19 digs in a single match and collected 17 digs on three other occasions.

“Kristen was a great addition to our lineup this year. She brings a ton of control to the back court when it comes to serve receive,” said TWU head coach Ryan Hofer. “She is a great defender who reads the play well. She’s quick, she’s fast, she brings a lot of passion to the floor and she’s a great teammate.”

Perrin finished the regular season second in Canada West in blocks with 1.31 per set, third in the conference in hitting percentage at .336 and ninth in points with 3.57 per set. She had a career-high 19 kills against Manitoba on Jan. 19 and a career-high .583 hitting percentage against UBCO on Dec. 1. This is the second year in row Perrin has been named a Canada West First Team All-Star. Last year, she was also voted a CIS Second Team All-Star. In Perrin’s first year, she was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year and to the CIS All-Rookie Team.

French finished the regular season tied for first in the conference with 0.53 aces per set, was sixth in Canada West with 8.80 assists per set and was third on TWU in digs, with 2.18 per set. French also set the TWU record for aces in a season, with 39, bettering current TWU assistant coach Lies Reimer’s (former Verhoeff) previous mark of 36, which the former Spartan earned twice, in both 2001-02 and 2002-03. French had a career-high 46 assists against Alberta Feb. 9 and career-high 18 digs against Mount Royal (01/26). In 2008-09, French, while playing with Alberta, was voted the Canada West and CIS Rookie of the Year.

For the sixth time in eight years, a UBC Thunderbird has been named the Canada West women’s volleyball Most Valuable Player as Victoria, B.C. native Shanice Marcelle has won the prestigious honour for the second time in her illustrious career.

The fifth-year outside hitter brought an outstanding all-around game to UBC, which finished with a 21-1 record in conference play. Marcelle was fourth in the Canada West in kills per set (3.33), fourth in points (4.16), sixth in hitting percentage (.302) and seventh in aces (0.46). These are impressive numbers considering teammate Lisa Barclay, who was in the league’s top five in kills and points as well, was also a focal point in the UBC attack.

“Shanice has had an outstanding regular season and this is a tremendous award to cap a fantastic career,” said UBC head coach Doug Reimer. “In a year that saw some standout play by some great players in our conference, Shanice had what I felt was her strongest play of a standout career. She excelled in all aspects of the game.”

Marcelle adds to her already impressive collection of accolades. She won the Canada West MVP previously in 2011, which was a banner year for the graduate of Victoria’s Spectrum Community School. Marcelle also took home the Mary Lyons Award as the best player in the CIS, as well as the 2011 CIS championship tournament MVP. She was then recognized as the Canada West’s top female athlete across all sports, and the nominee for the Jim Thompson Trophy, given to the best female athlete in the CIS.

Marcelle is a two-time All-Canadian and was named to the 2009 CIS All-Rookie team and, perhaps most impressively, she has been a CIS championship All-Star and gold medal champion every year she has been a varsity athlete.

Mount Royal University’s Carolyn O’Dwyer was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year, after a sensational season for the Cougars in which she helped her team to a 14-8 regular season record and a post-season berth in their first year in the Canada West.

A Calgary native, the 5-11 left side was absolutely dominate in her freshman campaign, leading the Cougars offence, while finishing fifth in the CWUAA in kills per set (kps), with a gaudy 3.15 kps average. Her season-high 25 kills in November was also the fourth-best single performance in Canada West this year – a phenomenal feat for a player fresh out of high school.

In addition to her offence, Carolyn is a stout defender, finishing second on the team with 2.72 digs per set, ranking her just outside the top ten in Canada West.

“Carolyn’s been such a great contributor and member of our program this season,” said Lamb. “Her dynamic ability to put the ball away and excel on both sides of the court has definitely helped us to where we are today. It’s not only her on the court contributions, but her off the court contributions as well.”

A Bachelor of Science major, Carolyn will look to cap her rookie season with a trip to the Canada West Final Four and possibly beyond with the upstart Cougars.

Originally from Mississauga, Ont., Ellis is a two-time CIS All-Canadian and CIS Tournament All-Star. As a setter, she is the only player in Canada West history to record more than 2,000 career regular season assists and more than 500 regular season kills. She also holds the Canada West record for career conference aces.

In 2013, Ellis, a long-time member of the national program, led Canada West in aces per set (.053), while also banking 197 kills, 455 assists, 3.05 points per set and 176 digs. She helped Alberta to a 15-7 record in Canada West play and the No.6 ranking in CIS.

On top of working towards her degree from the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation from the U of A, Ellis is a dedicated member of the University Athletes Board, which gets Golden Bears and Pandas out in the community. She planned, coordinated and participated in volunteer opportunities at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, with Bear Hugs Program, Bike for Aids, Hockey Puck Toss to benefit KidSport, Super Sub Day for United Way, the USchool Program, Tobacco Free Kids program, Read in Week, and Christmas Food Drive for the Edmonton Youth Emergency Shelter.

“Jaki contributes to our team in a strong leadership capacity,” said 20-year head coach Laurie Eisler. “Her teammates have selected her as one of our two team captains. In this role, she represents them and the university very well. Jaki is a great ambassador for us and in every way depicts the values and character that we aspire to as a team. She is a very articulate, bright young woman and one who will be a tremendous asset to any organization with whom she becomes involved in the future.”

UBC Okanagan Heat head coach Steve Manuel has won the Coach of the Year award in just his second year of play in the ultra-competitive Canada West conference.

Coach Manuel guided his team to a 15-7 record, nine wins better than 2011-12 and good enough for a fourth place finish with the chance to host a conference quarter-final.

In his 12th season at the helm of the Heat, Manuel is no stranger to the coach of the year award, having earned that honour in five of his ten years in the BCCAA (now known as the PACWEST), and a three time winner of the national coach of the year in the CCAA (Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association).

“UBC Okanagan is very fortunate to have Steve Manuel leading our women’s volleyball program,” said Rob Johnson, Director of Athletics and Recreation at UBC’s Okanagan campus. “He is a great example of a professional coach… thorough technical knowledge of his sport, a gifted instructor and communicator, an honest and successful recruiter, a caring mentor of his student athletes and administratively very organized.”

Following are the women’s volleyball individual award winners & All-Stars:

AWARDS

MVP: Shanice Marcelle, UBC

Rookie of the Year: Carolyn O’Dwyer, Mount Royal

Libero of the Year: Kristen Moncks, Trinity Western

Thérèse Quigley Student-Athlete Award nominee: Jaki Ellis, Alberta

Coach of the Year: Steve Manuel, UBC Okanagan

ALL-STARS (alphabetical by surname)

First Team Second Team

Lisa Barclay, UBC Courtenay Dawson, Calgary

Rachel Cockrell, Manitoba Brina Derksen-Bergen, UBC

Jaki Ellis, Alberta Ozana Nikolic, Winnipeg

Kelci French, Trinity Western Carolyn O’Dwyer, Mount Royal

Shanice Marcelle, UBC Emily Oxland, UBC Okanagan

Alicia Perrin, Trinity Western Krista Zubick, Alberta

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